Education

• PhD, Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 2013
• MSW, Graduate School of Social Welfare, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea, 2004
• BA, Russian, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul, Korea, 1999
• BA, English Language and Literature, Sogang University, Seoul, Korea, 1996

Research Interests

• Social determinants of health and mental health
• health and mental health disparities
• minority aging
• ethnic minority immigrants
• cross-cultural studies
• economic justice
• human service workforce management
• diversity and inclusion in organization/workplace

Overview

Min-Kyoung Rhee, PhD, focuses on exploring diverse social determinants of health and mental health and understanding the mechanisms among those social determinants, particularly among ethnic minority older adults. Her earlier research focused on how economic factors (i.e. unemployment, involuntary retirement) shaped people’s health and mental health. With this foundation of research, she expanded her research by examining more diverse aspects of social determinants of health and mental health (i.e. immigration and cultural factors) and health and mental health disparity issues. Her future direction of research is to conduct translational research that expands knowledge on how to promote ethnic minority older adults’ health and mental health and their access to services and to conduct intervention studies that address the unique and culturally specific needs of ethnic minority older adults.